Samsung sees biggest smartphone sales decline since Gartner started tracking it

Huawei and Xiaomi were almost solely responsible for smartphone sales growing in Q3 2018, according to Gartner’s latest figures.

Gartner research director Anshul Gupta claimed that global smartphone sales would’ve been down 5.2 percent if HUAWEI and Xiaomi’s results were removed from the list.

The tracking firm found that HUAWEI firmly held on to its number two spot, hitting 13.4 percent market-share or just over 52.2 million units sold to consumers. This compared to Q3 2017’s figure of 9.5 percent market-share, or 36.5 million units sold.

Meanwhile, Xiaomi saw a more modest jump from seven percent market-share (26.85 million units sold) in Q3 2017 to 8.5 percent (33.2 million units) in Q3 2018. Fifth-placed Oppo was the only other brand in the top five to see its market-share increase, from 7.7 percent (29.4 million units sold) to 7.9 percent (30.56 million units).

Samsung took first place once again, but it suffered its biggest decline since Gartner started tracking global smartphone sales. The company went from 22.3 percent market-share (85.6 million units sold) in Q3 2017 to 18.9 percent (73.36 million units) in Q3 2018.

The pressure will be on Samsung to turn things around in 2019, as HUAWEI and Xiaomi eat away at its market-share. The South Korean firm is facing pressure from HUAWEI in particular, as the Chinese brand previously stated its intentions to grab the number one spot by Q4 2019.

Samsung has also acknowledged what it calls a “crisis” at its mobile division, but pointed to the Galaxy S10 and foldable phones as opportunities for a comeback. Nevertheless, Gartner research director Roberta Cozza reckons that the first wave of foldable phones will be expensive and have usability trade-offs.

We discussed this on the podcast too!

Do you think Samsung can claw back market-share from HUAWEI? Give us your answer in the comments below!

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